ONE TOO MANY

Home in Port Charlotte
Low 46, high 77

I fished all day yesterday with my buddy, Subaru Jim. We started out the day in the Myakka River, at the El Jobean bridge, in 48* weather at sunrise. The tide was a weak one, with a whole lot less current than we usually prefer.

Jim landed the first fish, a 14" Silver Trout. Minutes later, I got slammed by a big snook who hit near the old abandoned wood pier. It fought to take my line back under those ancient pilings but I dragged him back into open water. It took about five minutes to really get him under control and next to the boat but then he darted beneath the hull from starboard to port side and SNAP! went my rod. Okay now I'm in shock. Jim hollered out, " it doesn't matter, keep reeling." Somehow, I kept the fish on and brought it back to the boat. We took him out to relieve him of the jig hook and take a few photos. He measured out to 28" and had a huge fan tail. Of course the season is still closed for Gulf water fishing so we had to release the prisoner of my little war. I'd won the battle but the snook had disarmed my weapon, a Pflueger President, that had taken so many snook this winter.

I placed the snook back in the water and held him upright for several minutes to properly revive him. As much as I'd love to taste that meat for the very first time, I still enjoy doing the right thing and letting them go to be caught another day...perhaps by someone reading this. A few kicks of that majestic tail signaled he was ready to return to the depths below. And away he went, under his own power.

Fortunately I had a Penn Fierce 4000 combo to get me through the day. We pulled out of the river at 10AM, catching nothing else there. Twenty minutes later we put in at Placida and fished the intercoastal waterway. I landed a gorgeous 24" Redfish and the two of us landed countless sheepshead, keeping the 12 biggest. Jim added a black drum to our tally and we spent over an hour filleting fish at home.

I know some would frown upon using that light Pflueger rod and 15 pound line when targeting snook but I loved the action and the sensitivity of that rod. It caught me more snook this winter than all of the 5 years I've lived here. But I guess it caught just one too many.